Sunday, April 10, 2011

In My Perfect World...

In MY perfect world...

I would make millions of dollars sitting around watching the Travel Channel and then I’d go to all of the places that interest me….

I would travel to all of those places first class, without having to worry about the plane getting struck by lighting (actually happened), sitting next to a sweaty, four hundred pound guy who is scared of flying and who wants to talk about it nonstop from Chicago to London (actually happened) or fear of a terrorist attack (hasn’t happened yet, however got detained once at a train station in Paris because of a bomb in a duffle bag in the ladies bathroom. I was never a suspect :). And I would arrive jet-lag-less and not have to stand in the customs line for hours (Heathrow…nightmare…brings me to tears just thinking about it) I’m just getting too old to deal graciously with the grief…

I would meet and talk extensively about art and life with Leonardo di Vinci, Michelangelo, Picasso, Rodin, and Vincent Van Gogh. They may have been sexually conflicted (Leonardo and Michelangelo), egotistical, misogynistic bastards (Picasso and Rodin), or just a psychological hot mess (Van Gogh), but my God, they were geniuses!

I would spend one night in the candlelit Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, laying on the floor, just staring at the magnificent mosaics on the domed ceiling.

All of my family and friends would live in the same city as I…preferably one with nice weather. And when I decide to move somewhere else, which I inevitably do, I could just take everyone with me.

Going to work would be “optional.” Don’t get me wrong…I like to work…I really do. It gives my life the structure and discipline that I am completely unable to maintain, left to my own devices. I just wish I could work less hours and make twice as much. And have six months of paid vacation a year, that I could take whenever I felt like it….

Bookstores wouldn’t be extinct. I don’t want a kindle! I want to curl up on the sofa , with a pot of good tea, and read a BOOK, turn the pages, use a bookmark, make notes in the margins. I know I can still get books online, but I don’t want to! I want to spend the afternoon browsing in a bookstore. And I know I can go to the library and browse. But I don’t want to take the book back in three weeks…I want to KEEP it!

I wouldn’t kill all of my plants except the cacti, which actually prefer the depravation and neglect.

Sweet tea, pizza, BBQ ribs, Italian meatball sandwiches at Jimmy’s, Meyer lemon panna cotta with berries, that chocolate/caramel brownie a la mode thing that my sister and I had at Café Eclectic last weekend, the entire menu at Mary Mac’s in Atlanta, and bacon, or anything cooked in bacon fat, would have zero calories, and be healthy and good for me….

Carol McNeill

Carol McNeill

I have a theory, that you can learn almost anything you want to know about a person or culture by what they eat (food) how they adorn their bodies (clothing) and where and how they live (shelter).

I'm a writer, artist, designer, foodie, and urban anthropologist of sorts. To me, life is a fabulous adventure, and this blog is my attempt to observe, curate, and write about the things that I find interesting. Welcome to Planet Carol!